The Cat and the Sparrow
by kuroi-sakurapetals
Summary: Itachi was the lonely child prodigy of the Uchiha clan, Shisui was simply a nobody with a heart of gold. Can a sparrow and a cat really fall in love or is it a relationship doomed from the start? ItachixShisui.


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. All rights belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Chapter One – No longer Alone

_The sparrow looked down at the sleek black cat roaming the garden. He had lovely almond colored eyes and wonderful jet black fur. The sparrow silently looked on at him as he prowled about the garden looking for his prey, hoping that the cat would not see him. The cat didn't like him very much. He was always trying to eat him or scratch at him. It was strange but the sparrow was in love with the cat. No matter how much danger he was in, he would come to the garden everyday to look at the cat on his daily hunts. He saw many other birds fall victim to the cat and his magnificent hunting skills but he knew better. He stayed silent and high above the cat's reach. If the cat could not hear him or reach him, it would be alright. He would be able to look at the cat this way. The cat saw him sometimes but left him alone. It seemed the cat had grown accustomed to his presence. Maybe one day, just maybe one day, he would be able to touch the cat with his beak and sing him a song. Maybe one day he would do that._

Alone, he was always by himself. His dark eyes did not show his loneliness nor did his face. In fact, he looked quite happy that he had no friends nagging at him or adults pulling his cheeks.

"See that boy there Shisui-chan? He's the genius child of Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san. My Shisui-chan must become like that boy." The fragile woman told the grey eyed boy whose hand she held tightly in her grasp. "Shisui-chan must make his mother very proud. If you become like him, mama will be very happy." Shisui stared at Itachi as the small boy walked silently along the roads of the Uchiha village. People turned to stare at him as he walked by, pointing and whispering words like 'prodigy' and 'genius' repeatedly.

"…but mother, I'm older than he is by three years. Besides, he looks really lonely." Shisui said in protest. "I don't want to become lonely like he is." His mother grew silent at his protests but from the look on her face he knew to say no more. A few people who stood close by glared at him. "But he really looks lonely." He muttered to himself as his mother dragged him away. He looked at Itachi's fading form as he moved further away from him.

That had been two years ago. Itachi had already mastered the Sharingan at age eight and now he had become a Chuunin, having passed the exam with little effort. Shisui was fascinated by him. The way he walked so softly, the way in which he pulled his hair into that ponytail and the way how he made all the girls swoon at his mere presence.

'He really is pretty though' he thought to himself as his grey eyes followed Itachi's form as he walked by. It was a little strange to see such a young boy wearing the Chuunin vest but Shisui found it cool that someone from his clan was such a genius. Itachi however, didn't really seem to care much about anything of the sort. He simply went about his business in his typical overly mature way.

Shisui found himself following after the boy unconsciously. Lately that was all he had been doing. Whenever Itachi would return from a mission or from the central, he'd follow after him wanting to know everything that the talented boy did. So far he discovered that he didn't have a particular favorite food, color or even person. Of course all this knowledge was learnt thanks to Itachi's various fan-girl squads around Konoha. Had it not been for those unscrupulous girls, yes at that age they had already been corrupted, he would not have found anything out. It was simple really. In the younger boy's presence he froze up with fear.

He had not noticed that Itachi had disappeared suddenly from in front of him until he had reached the very end of the road. He stared at the tall wall before his eyes in confusion and then realization struck him. Itachi had lead him to a dead end. He took a step back and found himself the prisoner of the very person he had been stalking. He gulped as he stared down his nose at the pale hand that held a kunai to his throat.

"I-I'm not an enemy." Shisui stuttered as some sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"You've been following me recently." Itachi said into the back of the boy's neck. "Why is that?"

Shisui swore the time for him to die was now. How embarrassing it would be to reveal his true motives to the stoic boy behind him. He racked his brain for a possible reason but could think of nothing. Besides, Itachi probably had some cool trick using his Sharingan to hypnotize him into spilling his guts. He took a large gulp of air before gave his answer.

"I was hoping that I'd learn something about Itachi-san since Itachi-san is such an excellent ninja!" He said loudly. It was true. He was fascinated with pale boy. His mother always begged him to become an excellent ninja like Itachi, to follow his example. He knew it had something to do with his dead father who was rumored to have been extremely talented. She would look at him with her weak eyes and beg him to become like his father.

"You simply could've asked one of those girls in the village. They seem to have a lot of information on me." Itachi released his grip on the boy's shoulders and turned to walk off.

"I did ask them! They told me stuff I really wasn't looking for." Shisui said as he followed after the genius.

"…"

"Itachi-san you should hear some of the stuff they say about you!" The grey eyed youth said as he walked along the Uchiha child prodigy. "They have some freaky information about you too!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! They say that you wear red under boxers, you comb the right side of your hair first and that you blink three times before you bite into your food."

"…"

Shisui took his silence as being shocked. "Creepy right? I mean, how do they even know all this stuff? They might be stalking you regularly!" He said with a smile. He had verified the last fact when he had followed Itachi to a restaurant once. He really did blink three times before he bit into his food.

"Like you have been doing lately?" Itachi offered. Shisui turned red in embarrassment.

"I…I have not been stalking you! I…I!?" He stopped mid sentence as Itachi turned to give him a tiny smirk. 'He's actually smirking! I didn't think his face could produce much expression!' he thought to himself as he stared at the Chuunin's pretty face. "So you've known from the beginning?" He asked in exasperation. Had he been so obvious?

"I must say, you have improved this past year. You move much better now than before."

"Really?" he said with cheeks aflame. Shisui pushed some of his hair behind his ear as he looked down at his feet. Getting a compliment of sorts from someone who was greatly admired by older ninja for his skill was quite wonderful and also embarrassing. "I've been trying to perfect shunshin jutsu for some time now. Of course Itachi-san must have mastered that long ago!"

"…"

Shisui followed Itachi all around the Uchiha village rarely saying anything to the younger boy. He realized that Itachi was not much of a talker, so he simply didn't ask anymore questions. If silence was what Itachi enjoyed, he would gladly give him that.

"Why are you following me?" Itachi suddenly asked.

"Hey, I'm older than you! Speak to me with some more respect will you?" Shisui said with a puffed out chest.

"Such a small bird is older than me?" Itachi questioned rudely.

"Yes! I am three years older than you are and don't call me a bird! I am also a Chuunin!" Shisui replied hotly. Itachi stared at him with a bored expression on his face before he returned his gaze to the road ahead of him.

"Hmph" Itachi continued walking and Shisui glared at his back for a few seconds before he slowly followed after him. He had forgotten that he was a thirteen year old boy. He wasn't supposed to be following after a ten year old. He was supposed to be secretly fascinated by girl's breasts and their other body parts, not some little kid who was an antisocial genius shinobi. "You really are a Chuunin?" his mellow voice asked.

"Y-yeah, I passed the exam earlier this year." Shisui stuttered out.

"Why don't I see you on missions then?" Itachi did not turn to look at his face but if he had he might've been a bit surprised to see the forlorn look on Shisui's face.

"I have been on missions." Shisui said as he stopped walking. "You really are something else! Oh my gosh!" He said before holding his stomach in laughter.

"I don't quite understand." Itachi said as he stopped and stared at the slender boy as he laughed.

"You were once the leader of a team I was in! Wow! I'm that forgettable?" Shisui laughed even harder at Itachi's expression. He looked somewhat embarrassed and pissed off at the same time. "It doesn't matter anyway. I'll introduce myself again. I am Uchiha Shisui! Pleased to meet you!"

The truth had been that ever since that day his mother had asked him to become like Itachi, he had worked very hard and improved his skill a great deal. He still had not reached Itachi's level but he kept working towards his goal. If he could make his mother happy, then he would do it. She rarely smiled at him, she rarely held him. Ever since his father had died in the battle against Kyubi, his mother had become depressed and delusional. Whenever he would enter her room, she would mutter a somewhat excited 'Is that you Sousuke?' and upon seeing that it was Shisui, she would give him an angry stare and say 'Oh, it's just you.' There were times when her mood was good enough that she would go walking around the village with him but he would always say something to annoy her and she would drag him back home. She was also one of the many villagers who sneered at the blonde boy with the whisker marks on his cheeks. She would say such cruel words to such a little child that he almost felt disgusted with his own mother. After all, her attitude towards her own son was not very different.

"Itachi-chan!" a feminine voice called out. Both boys turned to see Uchiha Mikoto walking towards them with bags of groceries in her hands. "Oh…Shisui-kun, I didn't see you there." She said with a smile. Shisui had always admired her. She was so pretty and gentle, an ideal woman in his eyes. She was also the only person to call Itachi 'Itachi-chan' in the entire village. A small boy wobbled after her and Shisui recognized him as Itachi's younger brother Sasuke. He was very cute with fat cheeks and innocent eyes. Most importantly, he looked just like Itachi did when he was younger, which made him even cuter in Shisui's eyes.

"Itachi-chan, are you finished with your mission already? How was it?" she asked him happily. Sasuke grabbed a hold of the hem of her dress as he stared up at his brother and then Shisui. When Shisui smiled at him, he turned red and hid behind his mother's leg. A few seconds went by before his huge eyes peeked shyly up at Shisui and the older boy simply winked at him, making him smile widely. When Itachi spoke however, Shisui's spell over Sasuke had been lifted. The tiny boy stared up at his brother in awe.

"Shisui-kun, why don't you join us for dinner today?" Mikoto asked him. He looked at her with wide eyes for a few seconds before he looked off to the side. He was actually going to spend time with one of the more powerful Uchiha families within the clan. His mother would be excited if she found out. He suddenly felt sick. The thought of her grabbing him by the shoulders and begging him to tell her about Itachi's family made him upset.

"I'm sorry but I have to get home to mother, I have something for her that she must get today." He lied. He could feel the stares of both Mikoto and Itachi on him and he felt like running away.

"Well that's too bad. But Shisui-kun can surely join us some other time right?" she asked with her gentle smile. 'Why can't my mother be like this?' he thought to himself as he nodded his head. "Since Shisui-kun is Itachi-chan's friend, I want to have him over for dinner some time." Shisui nodded his head dumbly at her. "It was nice seeing Shisui-kun today. Please give your mother my regards. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye." He said softly as he stared at the three. They walked off silently together, Itachi not sparing a glance in his direction. When they had gotten about several feet away, Sasuke turned around and gave him a tiny wave. He smiled at the little boy. He really was too cute. He waved back at him before he turned around and headed for home. Itachi turned to stare at his fading form, a small smile present upon his face.

_The cat stopped walking and stared up at the sparrow with his golden eyes. He purred at the small animal and the sparrow chirped at him in return. They stared at each other for some time before the cat went back to his earlier activity of hunting. The sparrow chirped happily as he flew off. The cat actually told him hello! He was very happy! He finally found a friend in the cat he admired so much! He hoped they could be friends forever._

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Well this is my first attempt at Naruto bl. Please treat me kindly. It is a very rare pairing but I've always liked things that were different and hardly used so it works for me pretty well. This story is going to be a short one, around four or five chapters long. I really think that this types of story is better when short and sweet instead of long and boring. I don't usually write such short stories but I think I'll like writing this one.

Please, if you liked the chapter, please leave a kind review with some constructive criticism. I really like to hear about the things I need to improve on. It's sweet and all when you leave reviews like 'I love this story! Update soon!' but that doesn't really help the author improve very much. It makes us blush, but not really improve. Thank you again. The second chapter should be up soon, so look out for it.

Thank you for reading! (whoever read it!)


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